


Brothers and Sisters are as Close as Hands and Feet.

by Katybug1992



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Car Accident, Niall has a giant crush on Gemma, OT5 Friendship, Sibling Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-07
Updated: 2014-04-07
Packaged: 2018-01-18 11:57:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1427620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katybug1992/pseuds/Katybug1992
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At the end of the day, Harry and Gemma are best friends and always there when the other needs them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brothers and Sisters are as Close as Hands and Feet.

I.

Simon had told them to go somewhere before the Judge's House, to get time to gel as a group before they had to actually sing as group for their shot at the Live Shows, so they had all ended up at Harry's stepdad's bungalow. Zayn had arrived earlier that day and they were all just lounging around the sitting room, blankets and pillows covering the carpet as Harry started a fire in the fireplace before making himself comfortable between Liam and Louis. 

". . . I woke up in the airport the next morning." Louis finished his story in dramatic form, drawing laughter from the others.

"When I was little, I was recovering from a surgery at the same time as my sister was recovering from getting her wisdom teeth removed and we had a drugged up argument over which one of us was actually dying." Harry shared with a smile and a breathy laugh, "I think she won, but only because the medication took over and I passed out."

"What kind of surgery did you have?" Liam asked after the laughter had died down, his eyes sparkling with amusement.

"I had broken my arm really badly." Harry replied, "They had to go into the arm to reset the bone. My…my boyfriend had gotten angry…and I happened to be there….so…"

Harry was looking anywhere but the other boys, bottom lip pulled between his teeth. His head snapped up when Zayn moved and gathered him into a hug, the others following soon after.

"Okay," Harry sniffed, blinking rapidly and squirming out of the boys' grasp, "who's next?"

Before anyone could reply, the door swung open and a young woman stormed into the sitting room.

"Where is it, Harry Edward?!" she demanded, ignoring the wide-eyed and slightly terrified looks she was getting from the other four boys.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Gemma Anne." Harry replied, giving her a wide-eyed, innocent look that totally had the others fooled.

"Oh, don't play dumb, it doesn't suit you, Valedictorian." Gemma rolled her eyes, "If I have to look for it, then I will not only take that, but your Ivys as well."

"No! Come on, Gem!" Harry jumped up, "You can have Cornell or University of Pennsylvania, just leave Yale!"

Those words started the mad dash up the stairs, Harry clumsily running after her, a loud thud indicated that Gemma had tackled Harry to the ground after he had somehow managed to run past her.

"They're mine!" Harry exclaimed.

"You don't need eight sweatshirts, Harry!" Gemma retorted, pulling her NYU hoodie out of Harry's duffle, she began to go through the others, "Where are the rest? You only have four of them here."

"Yeah, my four top choices." Harry replied like it was obvious, "The others are at home."

"Can I have Yale?" Gemma asked, raising her eyebrows hopefully, picking up the navy sweatshirt.

"NO!" Harry snatched it from her, throwing it over his head, "You got your NYU, now go!"

"Fine!" Gemma sniffed, turning on heel and walking from the room.

"Thank you!" Harry threw his arms up in exasperation.

"Oh, Patrick is looking for you." Gemma spun around, walking down the last few steps backward so she could observe her little brother's face.

"Yeah?" Harry replied, raising an eyebrow, "I made it pretty clear that I didn't want to see or talk to him again after I went to see him when I got back to town and walked in to see him getting sucked off by some bimbo and he told me to wait a minute."

"I think that bimbo might have been Stacy." Gemma replied, walking into the kitchen and pouring herself a glass of orange juice, ignoring her brother's pursed lips of distain, 

"Anyway, I told him to go suck a dick."

"Why do you think he's looking for me?" Harry shot back, raising his eyebrows.

"You do not need to say those things to me." Gemma's expression was twisted in disgust, "Besides, he bragged about your guys' sex life often enough. H, this guy…"

"I know, Gem," Harry's voice was soft, "I'm done with him. Totally, one hundred percent done with him."

"You should have been 'totally one hundred percent done with him' when he broke your arm." Gemma shot back, "Look, just be careful, yeah? I would hate for you to fall back into things with him."

"I got it." Harry replied, "Now, you have your sweater, you can leave."

"Fine." Gemma huffed out, putting her cup in the sink and walking to the door.

"Thank you, very much." Harry grinned, "I'll buy you a doughnut for your troubles."

"You better." Gemma beamed before pulling Harry into a tight hug, "I love you, Hazbug."

"I love you, too, Gembeetle. " Harry hugged her back just as tight.

"I'll talk to you later." Gemma pulled back and walked out of the door.

"Put everything back where you found it!" Harry yelled after her as she walked to her car, "I'm serious Gem! I know exactly where everything is and I will know if you didn't return one!!"

Stepping back inside, Harry closed the door and returned to the sitting room, "So…that was my sister."

"You guys look a lot alike." Liam smiled.

"Yeah…we're pretty much the same person." Harry laughed, "I stole her NYU sweatshirt so she came to get it back."

"What others were you guys talking about?" Niall asked, looking up from his guitar. 

"My dad, the year I decided that I wanted to be a lawyer, ordered me a sweatshirt from every Ivy League school in the states. I narrowed down the list to the top four and those are the ones that I always take with me: Harvard, Brown, Princeton, and Yale. As I narrow down more, another sweatshirt will be left at home. Gemma gets the rejects."

"So, you're a smartypants." Louis gave him a teasing grin, tapping Harry with his foot.

"She did address him as Valedictorian." Liam replied, slightly in awe.

"My mom sent me to the best school around, I wanted to prove that it was worth the money." Harry replied, "And, after I figured out what I wanted to do if performing didn't work out, it became working toward being good enough to go to a school with an internationally acclaimed law school."

Zayn chuckled to himself before saying, "I honestly cannot see you as a lawyer; you're just too adorable."

"Heyyy…" Harry drawled before laughing, "That's what Gemma always says...."

After that, the night carried on with recountings of old stories and about them and their families.

II.

The guys were having a horror movie day (in other words, Harry was distracting himself with various crafty projects while the others were absorbed in the movies) when the door to Harry and Louis' flat flew open and all five boys jumped five feet (Niall and Louis may or may not have let out very manly shrieks) when Gemma stomped through the door and slammed it shut.

"Hey, Gem." Harry greeted, standing up with a grin and opening his arms, grateful to have an excuse to leave the room.

"Your friends are idiots." Gemma replied, hugging him and rolling her eyes as the other four seemed to be recovering from major heart attacks.

"You're tense." Harry stated, pulling back from her and placing his hands on her shoulder, examining her face.

"Yeah, well…" Gemma pursed her lips, "Grandma tends to do that to me."

"You need to cook," Harry replied, pulling Gemma into the kitchen with him.

"H, contrary to what you believe, not all problems can be made better by cooking." Gemma replied.

"Yes," Harry nodded, "but I need you to beat some eggs for me and you can pretend that they are grandma."

"Fine." Gemma huffed, cracking the eggs Harry had set out and roughly beating them with a fork, "If I have to hear 'Gemma, darling, I was married at your age' from that stuck-up, old, hag ONE MORE TIME, she will be these eggs."

"She's not that bad." Harry mumbled, putting together the seasoning for the various meats (beef, chicken, and fish) for the tacos.

Gemma looked over at him, raising an eyebrow, "You wanna try that again? Maybe this time so that it sounds like you believe the words coming out of your mouth?"

"Look, Gem, grandma is a countess who is stuck in the old days." Harry sighed, looking over at her, "And she's just taking her disappointment that mom didn't marry some guy who was set to inherit a lordship on us and she's upset that mom did not raise us the way that she raised mom. I mean, the only way mom can even be redeemed in grandma's eyes is for one of us to marry a future lord."

"I WAS pleasantly surprised that grandma was okay with the whole gay thing." Gemma nodded, thoughtfully, popping a grape into her mouth as she absentmindly began to gather and prepare everything that Harry would need for the bread pudding, "And how do you know all this?"

"Well, you know how you always storm off after a visit from grandma?" Harry looked over at his sister, hiding the smug smile at how the whole cooking-to-calm-down thing was working, "I have to stay and calm mom down, then call grandma to apologize for how disastrous the visit was because you and mom were both insulted within the first five minutes and then everything goes downhill after that. Do I need to call grandma?"

"No," Gemma replied, rolling her eyes, "I don’t understand how YOU ended up being the favorite."

"Because, if all this doesn't work out, and possibly after everything if it does work out, I am going into law with the interest of running for Parliament and then, eventually Prime Minister. And grandma says that I have the better chance to land a lord than you do."

"Does she know about Louis?" Gemma laughed, rolling her eyes as Louis demanded to know why he was being mentioned from the other room.

"Well, she either pretends like he doesn't exist or says that he is a phase and that I was always destined for the world she belongs to, the world mom turned away from."

"You know what my worst nightmare has become?" Gemma hopped up to sit on the counter, "That I'm going to meet a guy who will inherit a lordship and I will actually like him, and we get married, and I make grandma happy. I never want to want to her happy. In fact, I think my New Year's Resolution every year since I was, like, ten, has been to do something to disappoint her. God, I hope I never meet a likeable lord."

Harry let out a bark of laughter, shaking his head, "You met that Bryan guy AND you liked him. He was funny, sweet, attractive, Lord Montgomery oldest son who is set to inherit his father's seat in the House of Lords. Overall, he's a great catch."

"Yes, but the look of glee on grandma's face was enough to shut down any and all feelings of attraction toward him." Gemma replied, shaking her head, "Who do you think she would disapprove of more: a starving artist or an activist? Because I met this guy who is highly involved in Greenpeace and his thinks that the monarchy is WAY out of date and pointless."

"I would go for the artist." Harry nodded, "I don't think you could handle this distance with the Greenpeace guy."

"True." Gemma replied, nodding thoughtfully, "Maybe I can find an anti-monarchy artist."

"Gem," Harry turned to give her a fond look, "YOU support the monarchy. You ALSO had tons of pictures of Prince Harry hanging on your walls when we were growing up and I will totally not hesitate to bring that up."

"Hey, we BOTH had the Prince Harry pictures." Gemma pointed at him, "At least that's one thing grandma likes about me."

"Grandma loves you, Gem," Harry looked over briefly as he finished cooking the last of the meats and emptied it from his pan and into its designated bowl, "She just has a hard time showing it sometimes."

"Well," Gemma replied, "You know, me and grandma do have one thing in common."

"Oh, yeah?" Harry raised an eyebrow, pulling out the sour cream container and tossing it to Gemma to put into a bowl then taking out the guacamole and salsa he had made earlier, "And what’s that?"

"We're both insanely proud of you," Gemma smiled fondly, "and we always have been. "

"I love you, Gem." Harry hugged her tightly, pulling her off of his countertop now that he had a free hand.

"Love you, too, Haz." Gemma returned the hug before yelling, "Get your lazy butts in here and start putting stuff on the table!" 

The other four boys rushed to get into the room, setting the table as Harry threw together the bread pudding and put it in the oven before taking his seat next to Louis, smiling broadly at Gemma and tilting his glass to her as the others dug in.

III.

It was the usual chaos that occurred whenever the guys came over to the Tomlinson(-Styles) house. Liam, Niall, and Zayn dropped off whatever junk food/ingredients for requested junk food off in the kitchen (Zayn and Niall returning to Liam's car to grab the boxes of alcohol the three had picked up on their way over) before going into the media to begin arguing over who would be the first two to compete in the all important FIFA tournament. Harry ended up settling that by dragging Liam and Zayn into the kitchen to help him with the snacks and by the time he had sent them back with various bags of chips, dips, and cookies Niall and Louis had already started their round, Harry following shortly after with beers for everyone.

Shortly after, the front down banged open and Gemma appeared, tears running down her face, her breath hitching and a sob escaping as she made eye contact with her little brother.

"Gem!" Harry breathed out, jumping up and pulling her close, whispering calming phrases to her and maneuvering them out of the media room and into the hall as she cried into his shoulder.

They stood like that for a while before Gemma finally calmed down, sniffling, she muttered, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I just needed to see you. I needed to talk to you."

"What's wrong, Gem?" Harry asked worriedly, searching her face, wiping her tears from her cheeks.

"Ben is a jerk." Gem chocked out, referring to the guy she had been seeing for a few months.

"What happened?" Harry asked concerned, following Gemma as she went back into the media room and plopped down next to Niall, Harry taking to open-ish spot next her (open-ish meaning that he was sitting on Liam).

"I go over to his flat earlier today, right?" Gemma replied, taking a swig of Harry's beer before he pulled it away from her, muttering about how she shouldn't drink if she's upset,  
"And there's this bimbo who is getting dressed as another girl with no clothes on comes out of his room. And then Ben comes out, sees me and says, 'Oh, hey, baby, I didn't know you were coming over today'. I mean, can you BELIEVE that?"

"It's up there with 'wait a minute, I'm almost done, Haz'." Harry replied with a grim smile, earning a small laugh from his sister.

"God, we know how to pick them, don't we?" Gemma sighed, sinking back into the couch.

"Hey!" Louis exclaimed, throwing her a quick glare.

"You figured it out, H." Gemma amended, "I just need to figure it out now."

"I could help with that." Niall turned to give a flirty smile to Gemma which allowed Louis score.

"Hazza!" Louis grinned at Harry, tapping his lips and grinning as Harry gave him his congratulatory kiss.

The rest of the evening carried on much the same, Louis being a sore winner, Niall hitting on the newly available Gemma, Zayn and Liam questioning their life choices, and Harry sitting back contently against Liam and cheering Louis to victory every time.

IV.

Gemma flung open the door to Harry's hospital, startling the boys (minus Harry who the pain medication knocked out).

"How is he?" she demanded, eyes wide and terrified as she took in the appearances of her little brother's best friends and noting that they were in the same state as her.

"In pain." Louis replied, taking a shaky breath, "Nick was driving, the car hit Harry's side when Nick ran the light. He was barely conscious when he got here and the medicine knocked him out."

"Did you--" Gemma rapidly wiped her eyes, trying to hold it together.

"We took care of everything." Niall replied, "Liam just got off the phone with your mom."

"She said that she would let Des know." Liam replied, standing up to give Gemma his seat.

The older girl quickly took it and grabbed onto his hand. Looking around she took note of just how not okay they were. Niall's eyes were red and he took repeated deep breaths to try to keep more tears from coming. Liam, who had begun pacing frantically, was obviously trying to be the strong one for everyone, but he eyes showed that he was one negative comment from falling completely apart. Zayn, who had Harry's other hand in a death grip, looked torn between crying for all he was worth and hunting down Nick to kill him; he took repeated shuddering breaths and his eyes were slowly filling with more tears. And Louis, he looked like his world had suddenly been taken from him. He sat on the bed, one hand running through Harry's hair and the other on Harry's chest, so Louis could feel him breathing.

"He'll be okay." Gemma tried to assure the room and herself.

Niall pushed himself away from the wall and wrapped his arms around her, "He's a fighter, Gem. He'll be fine."

"He is a Styles after all." Zayn gave her a wiry smile as Gemma's phone began to ring.

Gemma nodded and answered her phone, "Hey, mom…Yeah, I'm here…He's stable, knocked out from the pain medicine…No, I'm not leaving until he wakes up and I don't think the guys will, either…He's in his own room…Yeah, I'll let you know when they'll release him…Okay, I'll talk to you later…I love you, too, mom, bye."

Gemma hung up the phone, "Mom says thank you for being here, and that she loves you guys, and that it's okay if you guys want to leave. She also said that she won't be able to come down, but she'll stay at least two weeks once he gets out. Dad is on a business trip and sends his thanks as well."

"I don't think I'm ever going to be okay with him going out with just Nick ever again." Louis breathed out, "I never liked it in the first place, but that's because me and Nick have our own issues that will probably never be resolved, but this happened while Nick was driving. That's it. He's not going out with just Nick ever again."

"He'll never go for that, Lou." Zayn spoke quietly, "He'll never go along with that."

"He will if we run away to an island and he has no way of getting in touch with Nick." Louis replied off-handedly.

Liam looked like he very much wanted to comment on that, but swallowed it walked over to Louis and wrapping his arms around the boy, "I'm sure he would like an island getaway."

Louis gave him a watery smile, knowing how hard it was for Liam to ignore all the things he wanted to say about what Louis had just said.

Sixteen hours, that's how long Harry had been out. Sixteen hours of doctors and nurses coming in to refill the IV and re-administer the medication and make sure all his vitals were okay, that his state had not changed. Sixteen hours since Harry had last been conscious.

His eyelids began to twitch rapidly, getting everyone's attention as he blinked his eyes open.

"Harry!" Louis jumped, tears of relief welling up in his and the others' eyes.

"Hey, Lou." Harry croaked out, smiling at his boys, before turning to his sister, "Hey, Gemma."

"Hazbug!" Gemma gasped, frantically wiping her eyes.

"I'm okay." Harry assured them, looking around. His gaze turned calculating when they landed on Zayn, who was looking slightly worse for wear. While the others looked emotionally exhausted, Zayn was twitchy and drawn out on top of that, "You look like shit, mate."

"I haven't had a smoke since Louis called me." Zayn replied, "I needed to stay here."

"If it makes you stop smoking, maybe I should get in car accidents more often." Harry gave a small chuckle and Zayn attempted to humor him but all that came out was a sad smile.

"Don't you EVER joke about this." Louis admonished in a hushed tone, "I was terrified that I had lost you." 

"I'm sorry, love." Harry replied, looking up at Louis with the adoration that everyone had long become used to.

"You're okay, and you're awake, that's all that really matters, Hazza." Liam smiled, sitting on the foot of the bed and placing his hand on Harry's knee.

Two day later, Harry was released and Anne was waiting at Harry and Louis'. It was a week before Harry was able to convince her that he really was fine. Hours after she was gone, Louis had their bags packed and they were heading to the airport to meet the guys and go a resort that was providing them with their own island for the week.

"Should we invite Gemma?" Harry asked as the car pulled away from the curb.

"Nah." Louis smiled, "It's just us and our boys."

Harry beamed and settled against Louis for the ride to the airport.

V.

The guys were lounging around Harry and Louis' hotel room in LA, they had been there for two weeks, and still had another week, and this was their first day off in a while. They were all off, meaning that no one had scheduled Harry to be seen out and about with random socialites for the only night of the trip. They were watching "The Avengers" when a knock sounded at the door.

"If you answer that, they will tell you that you're going out tonight with a model, or worse, a Kardashian." Zayn warned as Harry moved to the door.

Harry shook his head fondly, opening the door after looking through the peephole, letting his sister into the room, "What are you doing here?"

Niall, spotting who it was, immediately ran into the bathroom to freshen up, and Harry rolled his eyes with a smile.

"I had to come make sure you were okay." Gemma relied, taking his face in her hands, "You, dear baby brother, have perfected the art of pretending that nothing is bothering you and making it sound convincing. I have learned to never believe anything you saw unless you are right in front of me and I can do this to you because it always made you tell me the truth."

Harry tried to smile but Gemma was still squeezing his face, but he decided to respond to her question, "I'm tired. I hate doing that crap. But I am feeling better today because I don't have to go out tonight. And I'm even better now that you're here."

Gemma rolled her eyes before hugging him and turning to greet the boys as Niall stumbled back out of the bathroom smelling like Harry's cologne. When Louis caught a whiff, he raised his eyebrow in judgment before his expression turned to one of mischief and Harry cackled because Louis had let Niall's crush on Gemma go far too long without embarrassing Niall in front of her. This was going to be an interesting week.

VI.

Gemma was in stress mode. She had three exams and two papers and only two weeks to get it all written and studied for. She hasn't had the time to go the laundry, clean her apartment, or even cook. There are take-out boxes and containers littering the floor and the only thing in her refrigerator are energy drinks.

She had cancelled everything until she was done with everything, which is why she was surprised to look up as the door opened to reveal her brother and the rest of One Direction.

"Hey, Gems." Harry grinned hugging her, "Don't worry, we're not here to disrupt, we're here to help. Keep working."

Gemma slowly turned back to her work as Harry delegated tasks, starting with having the other four clean and take the trash out as he went to the store to get his sister real food.

An hour later, the place was cleaner and Harry had just gotten back from the store and began to make dinner (lobster and mushroom risotto with a light white wine and cream sauce).

Before she knew it, Niall and Liam were pulling Gemma away from her work and sitting her down at the table.

"Eat the food." Harry smiled, sitting down next to her and scooping a large helping of the risotto as Louis poured wine into everyone's glasses, "Then you can go back to your studying, I'll start your laundry, the guys will finish cleaning, and I will make you enough meals to last until this stress-fest is over. I may need to send one of them out for more Tupperware containers as I'm making enough breakfasts, lunches, and dinners to last you for two weeks. There is also some general stuff you can make as snack or if you don't want to reheat anything.

Gemma sat there shocked for a moment, before saying, "Thank you, guys. You didn't have to do this."

"Well, actually, when Harry Styles calls you and tell you that you're doing something, you do it." Liam replied with a smile.

"And if he asks you for something while riding you, you tend to give it to him." Louis added.

"I didn't need any incentive." Niall grinned, only slightly embarrassed as he recalled how quickly he was out the door when Harry said that they would be going to visit Gemma.

"We all would have come regardless." Zayn added, "H's family is our family, that how it works with all of us."

"I really do love you guys." Gemma grinned, raising her win glass to them, "To family."

"To family." they echoed.


End file.
